Media processors such as printers utilize many components to control how media such as paper is guided though the printers during a printing process. Such printing components can include a feed system having rollers to initially guide the media toward a print zone where a print head applies ink on to the media, or where an image is transferred to the media. Rollers for guiding media in the printer can serve different functions. A retard roller is required in a document feeder (e.g., ADF, sheet feeder) to work in conjunction with a separation roller to help separate a single sheet of media to be fed from a small stack of media. The retard roller should have the friction, wear life, torsional stiffness, low compression set, and compression deflection characteristics to meet product performance needs. The compression deflection characteristic allows the roller to deform significantly when pressed against the separation roller to increase the contact area with the separation roller. The increased contact area provides a distance within which several sheets of paper (or other media) are separated so that only one sheet is fed through the printer.